Not a whole lot has changed. I am still on nights. Three days a week. It is nice working only three days a week. I am contemplating going back to school to upgrade to my paramedic.

Summer is rapidly approaching. I hope to spend more time at the lake this hear thanks to my new schedule. I also plan on camping once a month. Preferably up on Lake Ontario. We shall see.

June already has a few weekends booked.

I have been getting to the range more lately. I am enjoying that greatly. I think Anna is as well because I come back with a lot less stress! It is nice to be shooting again. It is a skill that is important to have in my opinion.

Maybe I will do a blog on my opinion on gun laws someday. It is a touchy subject, not only with me but with all of the USA. Now that I can blog from my phone it will be a log easier for me to do it. Oddly enough.

]]>https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/93/feed/0zterwillEMS 2.0https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/ems-2-0/
https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/ems-2-0/#respondThu, 12 Jan 2012 06:38:13 +0000http://zterwill.wordpress.com/?p=90This is a topic making its way around the social media sites and blogsphere. Not many people know about it though unless they read certain blogs. I can provide a list if anyone wants.

EMS 2.0 is basically a remapping of the current EMS system. It focuses primarily on ALS, but I think us supposedly lowly EMTs can learn from it as well. And I have posted on this before, so if you have read my blog Flawed, then you don’t need to read this if you wish.

The current system teaches us that all patients(PTs) NEED to go to the emergency department(ED). Why though? If someone has a stubbed toe, or has had abdominal pain for the past month, why should they go to the ED? An Urgent Care Clinic or their own doctor would be so much better for this!! I think EMS providers should be trained in recognizing certain illnesses and injuries that do not require an ED, and be able to transport them to an Urgent Care. I don’t know how many times I have had to take a PT in to the ED, just to have the staff get upset with ME over them being there. Yes, abdominal pain can be deadly in some circumstances, but if you have had it for the past 12 hours, and are walking straight with no tenderness, then you do not need to go to an ED. If it suddenly started, and it feels like your inside are being ripped apart, well, they be being ripped apart and you need immediate lifesaving help, otherwise known as an ED. Some EDs will take, and put a PT into the waiting room when they come in by ambulance, if they do not need immediate life saving treatment, which is awesome!

Still confused? OK, think of it this way, for some reason, something happened to you, you got in accident, fell off of a ladder, tripped and hit your head. 911 is called, we come, do our thing, and rush you to the hospital so you can at least be checked over. All fine things as who knows what is going on, somethings we can not do in the field like a CT Scan. But now, here you are at the ED, waiting, and waiting, and waiting. You complain about how long it takes to get your CT scan results read, so you can be released and go back to whatever it was you had been doing. Well, chances are that it is taking so long, because there are a few PTs there with the sniffles or an upset stomach, and think they are more important then you. If they had gone to an Urgent Care, chances are you may have been able to be seen faster. Now, you may be waiting because someone worse then you came in, and this should be the case if triage is working correctly.

Other people abuse ambulances them selves. Like the PT on Medicare/Medicade/self-pay, with a flu, requesting to go to a hospital on the other side of the county, when we have to drive past two other hospitals to get there. What can we do about that? For starters, take them to an Urgent Care! Maybe ask them, politely of course, if they want to go by ambulance and get the bill, or if they want to have a friend or family member drive them? Obviously we can not refuse to transport someone who is not a threat to us, because if that was an option, someone somewhere would abuse it and a PT would die.

How can this affect us EMT-Bs you ask? I think if ALS can choose whether a PT needs an ED, or an UC, then we should be able to gain some privileges as well. Now this applies mainly to NY, as everyone is different. I think we should be able to drop a King Airway, start an IV so the ED has access, and a few other things I can’t think of right now.

]]>https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/ems-2-0/feed/0zterwillhttps://zterwill.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/89/
https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/89/#respondSat, 03 Dec 2011 23:32:44 +0000http://zterwill.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/89/Erin Writes: The holiday season is upon us and I bet you’re doing the American thing–dropping tons of cash on clothes, electronics, and cheap plastic toys…all made in China. Anyhoo… Inevitably this time of year you see list upon list of gift suggestions. Best gifts for men. Best gifts for women. Best…]]>

The holiday season is upon us and I bet you’re doing the American thing–dropping tons of cash on clothes, electronics, and cheap plastic toys…all made in China.

Anyhoo…

Inevitably this time of year you see list upon list of gift suggestions. Best gifts for men. Best gifts for women. Best gifts for kids, teachers, pets, teacher’s pets, mailmen, hairdressers, baristas, and random strangers on the street. But, I’ve always felt there was a list missing. Have you ever wanted to buy a gift for the child of someone you know? Someone who you really need to seek revenge on in a passive-aggressive way? Well, look no further, Erin is here to help you.

Top 5 Gifts To Buy For the Children of People Who Piss You Off

1.) Musical Instruments

In the true spirit of Christmas, musical instruments are gifts that keep on giving: headache after headache after headache. The…

Everyday I think of something, see something, or do something I want to tell him about. But I can’t.

He is the reason I got into EMS.

I miss you dad.

This would be longer. But I can’t right now. Maybe later I will edit it.

]]>https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/four-years/feed/1zterwillPolitics… in EMS?https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/politics-in-ems/
https://zterwill.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/politics-in-ems/#respondSun, 06 Nov 2011 16:57:56 +0000http://zterwill.wordpress.com/?p=85As a rule of thumb, especially at work, I do not discuss politics or religion.

But as of late, politics and work have been butting heads, not as in the presidential campaign, or even local campaigns, no, politics with in the EMS community.

I will not mention any names of any companies, so I can keep my job!

As of late, there have been some exchanging of contracts in the local EMS providers where I am. And it is making waves, some of the competitors have even taken to bad mouthing others on public forums such as Facebook, I try to avoid this(see above line).

I understand politics in business, I have worked enough Fortune 500 companies to understand why and how it works.

But when it comes to EMS it is ridiculous. When one company will sit and watch, or drive by, a patient who just called 911, because it is not in their contract, infuriates me. Some workers will do this, granted they are the older generation, stuck in their ways I suppose. But does that make it right?

As the companies bicker over territories, and contracts, it is the patients who will get hurt in the end. Literally.

I understand that companies need to make money, but at whose expense? Usually mine actually, sadly. As it is the medics on the road who have deal with it face to face on a daily basis.

But as I said before, the patients will feel it as well, when company A is posted in company B territory, so they can fulfill their contract with business X, and a call goes out that A is closer to then B, thanks to B already out fulfilling their obligation with business Y, why should the patient have to wait for company B to respond, especially when A is maybe a block away? Sometimes even calling in company C for the call, just because company B doesn’t like company A. Who suffers in the end there?

I realize some of this may start with the people in the dispatch office when it comes to choosing what company goes where, but that is a problem as well, and needs to be worked on. If company B calls company C for the call, the dispatcher should advise them that company A is right there!

As for politics within the company, that has been going on ever since the first company started, and I chose not to comment on that in a public forum such as this for obvious reasons, lets just say, that, for now, I will not be participating in this. But when I do decide I am tired of actually working for my raises and promotions, instead of brown-nosing and such, the game will be a foot!